Sacrifice
by Sincerely-Vixen
Summary: In a world such as ours, greed runs through our veins. Self sacrifice isn’t something common anymore. But she would prove them wrong…she would prove them all wrong, if only for him. InuXKag.


Sacrifice

One-Shot

Rating: T

Genre: Romance/Tragedy.

Summary: In a world such as ours, greed runs through our veins. Self sacrifice isn't something common anymore. But she would prove them wrong…she would prove them all wrong, if only for him. InuXKag.

Inspiration: The InuYasha Manga and the Anime season 1.

* * *

Sacrifice

The jewel…it was whole again…

I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched the sun reflect off of the small pink orb. Funny, wasn't it? How this small pink jewel had killed so many people. Demons and humans alike swallowed by greed and consumed by this jewel destroyed lives.

This stupid jewel that took so much from so many. Why did such a jewel have to ever exist? Why did so much hate devour so many? Why…_why?_

Had this jewel never been created, Kikyo would still be alive, InuYasha and her, would be happy. They would be together.

I looked over and saw Miroku's blue eyes widen in astonishment, looking at his right palm, the wind tunnel gone. Sango was sitting on her knees, staring at the corpse of Naraku before she turned and lunged at Miroku. Finally, they could be together. Shippo was dancing with Kilala, Myoga even on his shoulder. My eyes searched on though, for the one person I knew would not be as happy.

InuYasha…

He stood silent, his eyes trained on the corpse of Naraku, the Tetsusaiga embedded in the dirt beside him. His red haori blew in the breeze, his silver hair matted with blood and dirt. I stood up then, the jewel heavy in my hand, watching him above all else.

His eyes…they were soft…just like…when he thought of…

Kikyo.

Kikyo, the priestess whose body had been revived countless of times. She was InuYasha's first friend and first love. They were to be together, after he wished himself human with this jewel.

I remembered once, a discussion with Miroku and Sango by the camp fire, while InuYasha had been hunting for food for the evening. They had said how Kikyo had wanted InuYasha to turn human, how she did not accept him for who he was. I hadn't said anything, because I wanted to believe as such.

To have a reason for my disdain of Kikyo.

But I knew deep down, I could never. Kikyo _had_ accepted InuYasha for who he was. She had only wanted the jewel gone from existence, and the only way to rid the world of such an evil jewel was to wish a wish of purity it. If InuYasha had wished to turn full Human…that would create a wish of pure intent.

She had just wanted to be with InuYasha.

I could never hate Kikyo.

Not even when InuYasha had gone off, so many times, to see Kikyo, leaving me alone. Not even when, he had called me by her name by accident. Not even when I had seen them share a kiss. Not even when I knew InuYasha would never love me.

I couldn't hate her, because I understood her.

She loved him, just as much as I had. But because of a misunderstanding, of an evil demon, her chance had been taken away. And I cannot replace her.

I am Kagome Higurashi, I am a modern girl stuck in a feudal world. I can see jewel shards. I have spiritual powers. I have a loving family. I am the reincarnate of Kikyo. I look like Kikyo. I have even been told, I act like Kikyo. But I am, above all else, Kagome.

I cannot replace her, I cannot be her and I cannot hate her.

No matter what, I will always love InuYasha, more then anything in the world. If he asked, I would give up my life for him. If he asked, I would leave my modern world, if he asked…I would do anything, because it came from his lips.

I've been told countless of times how much I look like the late priestess Kikyo, but I am not her. I am not a perfect archer. I do not know how to use my spiritual powers well. I am flawed. I am me.

I have felt ill feelings towards her, jealousy, anger, maybe, even at one point, hatred. I am not as pure hearted as one may think. I am not as perfect as people make me out to be. I can feel anger, jealousy, envy and hate. I am a normal, ordinary girl, who is in love.

I am just a girl.

A girl who is jealous of a dead woman. I have tried to replace Kikyo, I've tried to be there for InuYasha, to hold his heart, to be with him but I can't. I always knew I couldn't. He won't let me.

Because he wants Kikyo over everyone else.

Because he loved her.

Over me.

I hold the jewel tightly in my palm. This small jewel weighs so much, consumed in evil and death. I looked to InuYasha and the others who waved me over and smiled. With unsteady feet I walked toward them, my heart almost as heavy as the jewel resting in my palm.

"We've done it! We've rid the world of Naraku!" Sango smiled in victory, holding her side as small amounts of blood leaked through.

"We can rest in peace now." Miroku agreed. I smiled and nodded, telling Sango she should rest and I would look at her wound.

"You're so kind Kagome, thank you." She wiped her brow of the sweat she had gathered through the heated battle. I didn't say anything as Miroku and her limped back to the village. Shippo bounded on my shoulder with Myoga.

"We've done it Kagome!" He squealed happily. I smiled and nodded my head back at him, telling him to go on ahead with the others. As soon as the rest had left, tending to their injuries, I turned to see InuYasha, still standing where he had been before.

"InuYasha…" He didn't look up, only stared at Naraku's remains, the same look in his eyes.

"She would have been happy to know we finally slayed Naraku…" I whispered. InuYasha looked up then, his eyes hard as he stared at me, his fists balled and tensed.

"You think you know her? Kagome, you think you know what would have made Kikyo happy? It would have made her happy to be alive! Don't think you understand her!" And with that, he bolted out of my sight.

I stood amid the battle field, looking at the corpses of Naraku and his minions. Shredded demon flesh, blood…poisonous ooze all around me. I looked up and watched the wind pick up, blowing through the trees.

I did understand her though, InuYasha, I understood her more then anyone would have thought. I understood her more then you may even have. I understood her pain and her suffering, but more importantly, I understood her love. Her love for you.

I turned away again, holding the sacred Shikon jewel in my hand.

* * *

"Kagome…what's the matter? We slayed Naraku! I thought you would have been happier then this…" Sango asked as we sat in the hot springs. I knew I should be happier, I knew I should be smiling but I couldn't find it in myself anymore. I slipped into the warm water, letting my scraps and cuts sting as the warmth invaded them. I welcomed the pain; for a moment, it distracted me from the hurtful beating of my heart.

"I am…I just…InuYasha, he's been…" I started but I couldn't find the words to continue. Sango nodded her head as she sat down on the rocks, the water covering her from view.

"He's mourning her death…after all; he didn't have much time when we were searching for the jewel shards." I knew she was right, that InuYasha did have a right to mourn for the loss of Kikyo. I knew that he would. I knew that he should but even with that knowledge, the ache in my heart grew, just a little more.

"You know he cares about you, Kagome." Sango looked into my eyes, as if trying to shed each layer I built to protect my deep seeded feelings. I summoned up as much energy as I could and smiled back at her.

"I know he cares…" Cares. But not love. I wanted him to love me as much as I loved him. As much as he had loved Kikyo.

No one saw it, but I did, every time I looked into InuYasha's eyes, I saw the truth. He didn't love me. He cared for me, he wanted to protect me, but not once has he kissed me like he had Kikyo on the day she left this world, not once has he told me he loved me as he had her.

He cares about me. But that's where it ends.

* * *

"What shall happen to the jewel now?" Miroku asked as we all sat around in Kaede's hut, surrounded by the warmth of the burning fire. InuYasha sat in the corner, his Tetsusaiga resting gently on his shoulder, ignoring us in favour of staring at the full moon outside.

"I do not know. It is up to ye now." Kaede looked to me. I blinked in surprise.

"Me? What? I-I, why me?" Why me? I was just a girl who stumbled onto this quest to find shards of a jewel I had broken. Why was it up to me what happened to it now? Why did I have so much to bare on my shoulders? I was only a girl, after all.

"Aye, it is up to ye on what to do with said jewel." Kaede nodded her head, tending to the fire. I watched the flames dance around; sparking with such intensity I was mesmerized.

"You can do it Kagome! Whatever you decide, it'll be good!" Shippo popped out beside me. Miroku nodded his head.

"We know you'll make the right decision, Kagome." Miroku nodded his head in encouragement again.

"We trust you, Kagome." Sango spoke. Even Kilala nodded her head and mewled. I smiled at their encouragement and trust, but I couldn't help but feel trapped. What if I made the wrong decision? What it they were wrong about me? I wasn't this pure hearted priestess who could save the world of destruction. I was a girl thrown into a game of chance, a game I had played for far too long. A game I had grown tired of.

"Thank you, you guys." I whispered back before standing up and walking outside. I needed fresh air. I walked into the night, searching in the stars for answers I knew they wouldn't give.

"Kagome…" I turned my head, knowing the voice before I saw the face. Only InuYasha's voice was that soft. I smiled at him, turning slightly to face him. He stood under the moon, his silver tresses giving an unearthly glow, and his softly tanned face turned towards me. He was beautiful, and it pained me that he had, at a point, seen himself as ugly.

"Hey InuYasha." He nodded his head and walked toward me, standing beside me, so close I could feel his warmth; warmth I would give my life to be surrounded by.

"What are you going to do with the jewel?" He asked. I looked at him and then at the moon, away from his softly tanned face, from his golden eyes that made me speak nothing but the truth.

"I'm not sure…I mean; you don't want to become full demon anymore, right?" I asked. I knew he had given up on that dream long ago, but still, I had to ask. He nodded his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, I like being half demon." I smiled at the words that escaped from his lips. Those words made me happy. I had decided, long ago, that I wanted to make InuYasha happy, happy to be who he was, a half demon.

"That's good to hear." I smiled softly.

"Keh, whatever. Why aren't you sleeping yet?" He asked, looking away from me. I held the jewel in my hand, the moons light bouncing softy off of it. My eyes scanned every surface of the jewel. The light shined agianst it, a pink hue just under the silver.

"I'm still thinking. I'm not sure what I want to do with the jewel." I voiced. He nodded his head and then shrugged his shoulders.

"I know you'll do the right thing." He whispered. I smiled at him again before I called it a night, squeezing his hand softly with my own as I passed him.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For everything." I turned and leaned up, kissing his lips softly before I retreated into the hut.

* * *

I knew then, what I had to do. What I would do with the jewel. I whispered a soft goodbye to each one of my friends. I snuck out of the hut that night, away from everyone and treaded to the well and the Goshinboku tree.

Under the soft light of the moon, the world didn't seem so sad and lonely anymore. It seemed beautiful and bright. It gave me hope for a new tomorrow, for a better era. For a better chance. A chance without so much heartbreak.

I held the jewel in my hand once more, the weight of it seemed to be less heavy then before. I stood in front of the tree, looking to its large branches, the leaves following the sway of the wind. I smiled at the flowers that were statring to bloom, they were so beautiful and innocent.

"Goodbye." I whispered before I closed my eyes and took the plunge.

The jewel glowed a vibrant pink before it consumed me in its soft light.

* * *

"Kikyo, I'm going to the Goshinboku again." InuYasha smirked as the priestess gathered flowers. She smiled gently and nodded her head. Her brown eyes looking up into his golden ones.

"Be home in time to eat."

"You know I will." InuYasha smiled and leaned down, placing a soft kiss on Kikyo's lips before turning to the door. He leapt through the trees bounding toward the sacred tree. He landed before it, looking to the tree, a soft smile before his lips as he touched the bark.

"Oh, InuYasha, hello." InuYasha turned his head and nodded at a couple that passed by, holding a small fox demon in their hands. The man was holding a monk's staff, the woman had a large boomerang strapped to her shoulders and the small fox demon was playing with a toy spinning top.

"Miroku, Sango and Shippo, right?" InuYasha asked. They were villagers that had moved from a distant neighbouring village only a while ago and InuYasha hadn't really talked to them before. The fox in their hands was an orphan after his father had died in a battle against some demons called the Thunder Brothers.

Though they all had spoken to each other rarely, InuYasha always felt drawn to the monk, the demon slayer and the orphaned fox. Something about them called to him. Something about them made him want to trust them, want to call them his friends.

"Yes, nice to see you here on such a lovely afternoon." Sango bowed her head in respect. InuYasha was the protector of the village and though Sango had come from a well known village of demon slayers, she respected him for his kindness. Miroku smiled and bowed his head as well.

"Good to see you, InuYasha." Miroku smiled.

"Bye, InuYasha!" The small fox cub waved his hand as they walked further away.

"Are we visiting your brother and father tomorrow?" InuYasha heard Miroku ask. Sango smiled and nodded her head.

"After we see your dad and Mushin, of course." She replied before they walked further away from the half demon.

InuYasha turned his attention back toward the Goshinboku, his clawed hands trailing down the bark of the tree, passing a deep indent in it. He frowned…since when had their ever been a mark of an arrow in the tree? He ignored it and sat against the tree.

He stayed there for a while before the sun started to set. The blood red sky fading into a soft hue of pink. He started walking back to the village but just once more, he turned to the tree and smiled. He never knew why he felt so peaceful at that tree, why he protected that spot, though there was only a tree and a well.

Be he couldn't help but feel at home at this place. Every time he felt like he had lost, he would go to the tree, looking at the well he would feel better and again, he found enough strength to continue onward, to tomorrow.

He smiled once more before he turned and leapt back to the village, but not before he heard a soft voice whispering,

"_Shikon jewel, I wish for you to give InuYasha another chance to be happy with Kikyo…take my soul for hers, and please…don't let anyone remember me."_

Stopping on the ground for only a second, InuYasha looked back at the Goshinboku, a name escaping his lips,

"Kagome…"

But as quickly as the name had been said, had he forgotten it. He stood staring at the well and the tree once more before he shut his eyes and shook his head. He turned his back on the scene and jumped into the air, back to the village, back to his home.

The world is full of greed and evil, but there is also hope, faith and love. No matter what evil you are faced with, the good can prevail. Kagome gave her soul back to Kikyo so that InuYasha could have another chance with the one he should have been with.

She had done, what most would have feared,

She had sacrificed.

She had _loved._

"_I love you, InuYasha." – Kagome._

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A/N: I hope you all enjoyed.

Take care,

Vixen


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